The household of the Boeing whistleblower who killed himself final 12 months after he raised security issues in regards to the airline’s factories has filed a wrongful loss of life lawsuit in opposition to the corporate claiming he was subjected to “harassment, abuse and intimidation.”
John Barnett, a former Boeing high quality supervisor, shot himself within the temple in his truck within the parking zone of a South Carolina lodge final March following days of grueling testimony for a bombshell lawsuit in regards to the firm’s manufacturing requirements.
It adopted Boeing allegedly subjecting him to a “campaign of harassment, abuse and intimidation intended to discourage, discredit and humiliate him until he would either give up or be discredited,” his household claimed in a wrongful loss of life lawsuit filed Wednesday in US District Court docket in South Carolina.
“Boeing had threatened to break John, and break him it did,” the household’s attorneys alleged in courtroom papers.
Barnett, 62, labored at Boeing for greater than three a long time earlier than he retired in 2017. Throughout his tenure there, he mentioned he had raised quite a few security complaints to his bosses, notably when he labored on the firm’s Charleston plant, that went unheeded.
Boeing retaliated by deliberately giving Barnett poor job evaluations and fewer fascinating shifts, in line with the lawsuit. The corporate additionally publicly blamed him for delays that upset his co-workers and saved him from transferring to a different plant, the lawsuit alleged.
After he retired, he grew to become a whistleblower and he spoke out about issues he had in regards to the firm with journalists.
His psychological situation spiraled and he was identified with PTSD.
“Whether or not Boeing intended to drive John to his death or merely destroy his ability to function, it was absolutely foreseeable that PTSD and John’s unbearable depression, panic attacks, and anxiety, which would in turn lead to an elevated risk of suicide,” the lawsuit mentioned.
“Boeing may not have pulled the trigger, but Boeing’s conduct was the clear cause, and the clear foreseeable cause, of John’s death.”
Barnett was found on March 9 in his Dodge Ram truck by Charleston police with a suicide observe scratched on a pocket book.
“I can’t do this any longer! Enough!” he wrote.
“America,” he continued “Come together or die!! I pray the motherf–kers that destroyed my life pay!!! I pray Boeing pays!!! Bury me face down so Boeing and their lying-ass leaders can kiss my ass.”
Barnett’s household is asking for compensation for emotional misery and psychological anguish, again pay, 10 years of misplaced future earnings in addition to bonuses, well being bills and his misplaced life insurance coverage advantages.
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